Rising rents highlight Manhattan office rental market in Q1

New York City office rentals got more expensive in the first quarter of 2011, even as vacancy and absorption rates remained mostly unchanged, according to separate reports released today by Cassidy Turley and Colliers International. Li & Fung’s rental in the Empire State Building, Lazard and Deloitte signing for space in 30 Rockefeller Center and Bloomberg LP’s move to 120 Park Avenue steered the strong market. The average asking rent in Manhattan rose to $50.18 per square foot from $48.62 per square foot, highlighted by a $2.14-per-square-foot jump in Midtown North, according to Colliers. The firm reported an availability rate of 11.7 percent, down 0.1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010, and just 300,000 square feet of net absorption. The Cassidy Turley report, which focused on Class A properties in New York City, Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties and Fairfield County in Connecticut, found a 14.1 percent vacancy rate, 191,867 square feet of net absorption and a $49.60-per-square-foot asking rent. The report predicts burgeoning rents, shrinking vacancy rates, and continued momentum in large leases, leasing activity and new developments. Colliers said the city recovered 44.5 percent of the jobs it lost during the recession, sparking the strengthening market. TRD